1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a built-in kitchen apparatus, such as a microwave oven, an electric oven, or a dish washing and drying machine, that is installed in a cabinet as an independent apparatus or a component of a composite cooking apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
A known cooking apparatus, such as a microwave oven, having a heating unit is provided as one of a cooking apparatus constituting an integrated kitchen system. Recently, as a result of kitchens being increased in size and formed as systems, diversification and unitization of cooking apparatuses have been promoted. Accordingly, a built-in apparatus configured by combining a cooktop, a pull-out microwave oven, an electric oven, and the like has been proposed. Many cooking apparatuses having a door that opens and closes the front of the apparatus have been proposed. In addition to such cooking apparatuses, pull-out cooking apparatuses that can be pulled out forward have been proposed.
An example of a built-in cooking apparatus is shown in the perspective view in FIG. 4. As shown in FIG. 4, the built-in cooking apparatus is, for example, a cooking apparatus provided adjacent to other apparatuses in a kitchen and, more specifically, is a composite cooking apparatus 30 including a cooktop unit 31, a microwave oven unit 32, and an electric oven unit 33, all being vertically aligned at a front panel 35. The cooking apparatus is a built-in apparatus and is installed in a kitchen cabinet 37 having the cooktop unit 31 on the upper surface. The cooktop unit 31 may include a drawer 34 configured to store utensils used for cooking. The microwave oven unit 32 and the electric oven unit 33 may be provided as drawers that can be pulled out. The microwave oven unit 32 includes a cooking apparatus body 1 having an overall rectangular shape, a cover 7 that can be operated to pull out a drawer body from the cooking apparatus body 1 and that is disposed at the front of the cooking apparatus body 1 so as to close a heating chamber 2, and an operation panel 8 disposed at the front of the cooking apparatus body 1 and above the cover 7. The operation panel 8 is provided as a unit with the cooking apparatus body 1. The electric oven unit 33 also has a cover 36 that can be pulled out.
A known cooking apparatus may include a heater for roasting, a magnetron for high-frequency heating, an exhaust path connecting the outside of a cooking apparatus body and a heating chamber, an exhaust fan for ventilation that is disposed in the exhaust path, and a catalyst for removing odor and smoke that is disposed in the exhaust path between the heating chamber and the exhaust fan. The known cooking apparatus is capable of reducing a first amount of air flowing from the heating chamber through the exhaust path by the exhaust fan during roasting to an amount less than a second amount of air flowing from the heating chamber through the exhaust path by the exhaust fan during high-frequency heating so as to increase the efficiency of heating and odor and smoke removal during roasting and to efficiently exhaust water vapor that is generated during high-frequency heating (refer to Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2000-274693, paragraphs [0060] to [0069] and FIGS. 1 to 7).
A built-in microwave oven including an electromagnetic cooking device, a microwave oven unit, and a supporting base may have a cooling structure including a control panel at the upper front, an air supply grill 73 directly below the control panel, and an exhaust grill at the lower front (refer to Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2005-3316, paragraphs [0002] to [0008] and FIGS. 9 and 10). According to such type of microwave oven, upper and lower heaters are provided inside, an upper inner path where air flows through due to an upper-heater-cooling fan is provided at a section including the upper heater, and a cooling path where air flows through due to a lower-heater-cooling fan is provided at a section including the lower heater. Part of the air sucked in by the upper air supply grill is directly provided in front of the exhaust grill and mixed with the air heated by passing through the heaters so as to reduce the temperature of the heated air. Then, the mixed air is exhausted from the exhaust grill.
A kitchen apparatus, such as a built-in microwave oven, including a heating unit that is heated to a high temperature includes a cooling unit for cooling the heating unit. Usually, the cooling unit has an air cooling structure configured to cool the heating unit by introducing cooled air. The cooling structure of a known built-in microwave oven, as described above, is provided separately in the microwave oven as an upper (lower) section for air supply and a lower (upper) section for exhaust. If the air supply and exhaust are provided separately in upper and lower sections, the sections provided for air supply and exhaust become bulky. Thus, the space for the heating chamber must be reduced since the overall height of the apparatus is limited. As a result, the storage efficiency of the cabinet is reduced and the flexibility in the design of the built-in cooking apparatus is limited. If the air supply and exhaust are provided separately as left and right sections, there is a problem in that the width of the apparatus will be limited due to the reason similar one limiting the height. If the air supply and exhaust units are provided in the same section, there is problem in that mixing of cold air and warm air will occur, and the apparatus will have a structure that is significantly disadvantageous for cooling electric components.
Accordingly, there are problems to be solved when preventing the bulkiness of the kitchen apparatus by disposing an air supply unit for cooling air and an exhaust unit for exhausting high-temperature air after receiving the heat generated during processing an object to be processed.